Prime Minister inaugurates Chashma 4

08 September 2017

The government of Pakistan is committed to adding 8800 MWe of nuclear energy to the country's national grid by 2030, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said today at the official inauguration of the country's fifth nuclear power reactor.

Unit 4 at the Chashma nuclear power plant was connected to the grid on 29 June. The Chinese-supplied pressurised water reactor (PWR) is the second of two CNP-300 units to enter service at the site, in Punjab province, following unit 3 which entered commercial operation in December 2016. The Chashma site - also referred to as Chasnupp - is also home to two Chinese-supplied 300 MWe PWRs: unit 1, in commercial operation since 2000, and unit 2, in commercial operation since 2011.

Two 1161 MWe Chinese-supplied Hualong One units are also under construction at a coastal site in Karachi. These are near the 125 MWe Canadian-supplied Karachi 1 pressurised heavy water reactor, which has been in commercial operation since 1972. Construction of Karachi 2 and 3 started in August 2015 and May 2016, respectively, and the units are scheduled to enter service in 2021 and 2022.

In January 2014 the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) announced its intention to build five further 1100 MWe nuclear units to meet anticipated electricity demand, and have 8.9 GWe of nuclear capacity on line by 2030.

At the inauguration, in comments tweeted by the Government of Pakistan, Abbasi reiterated that the government "is committed to achieve [its] goal of adding 8800 MWe of nuclear energy to the national grid by 2030."

The inauguration ceremony was also attended by the country's Minister of the Interior Ashan Iqbal, Minister of State for Power Abid Sher Ali, and Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong, as well as Muhammad Naeem, chairman of PAEC.